Miss Understood
by A-Cheery-Melody
Summary: When beauty pageants lead to kidnappings & and death is when our favorite FBI team comes in. It starts out as a simple case until Nicole gets shocking surprise! Please R&R! chapter 5 added!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the MISSING characters. NONE of them are of my belonging

Nicole slammed the door of her car in the parking lot. It was very quiet, so quiet it was scary. All that was heard was the sound of her heals tapping against the floor as she quickly walked towards the elevator. Suddenly out of nowhere Nicole heard a _SLAM _and a _BEEP,_ she violently spun around.

"Hey, Nic", said Jess out of nowhere just as she locked her car.

"Oh, it's just you", Nicole responded relieved, her heart still racing out of shock.

"Yeah, sorry to disappoint you", Jess answered

"No, it's just 'Mondrick Case' still leaves me a little paranoid, I guess I'm just tired, I'll get over it", Nicole assured her as they stepped into the elevator.

"That case wiped us all out", said Jess.

"But there's nothing that can make a girl feel better than a night with her man. What's up with you and Colin anyway?" Nicole wondered.

"It's going great but he's going away again" Jess told her.

"When?" asked Nicole

"Tonight", Jess added. They finally reached their floor and both got out of the elevator. They headed straight for some coffee where they saw Antonio pouring himself a cup too. They greeted each other with a bunch of 'hey's. There wasn't much time to discuss anyone's personal life further because Pollock had just walked towards them.

"Happy hour is over agents, it's time to get to work." Pollock announced "follow me". The agents did as they were told. Pollock lightly tossed two folders on the table, a picture of a woman on each one. "Sandra Manice, 33, Emily Diller, 21 both kidnapped, as of early this morning, probably by the same person, the cases seem to be interconnected. I need details." He said to them. He suddenly stared at Jess.

"Umm … sir what are you doing?" asked Jess

"Waiting for a vision, Mastriani." Pollock responded.

"Listen, sir, I have already explained," she tried to keep calm, "that's not exactly how it wor-" Suddenly Jess was thrown into a vision …

_A hand wearing a black glove holding a crown covered in jewels. A balcony came into view. The crown was dropped off the balcony. The crown shattered and turned into blood. Three women watch terrified. One woman disappears, the second one starts to run and the third just stands there horrified!_

"That's not exactly how what, Mastriani?" asked Pollock still staring at Jess but now with a little grin. Jess just stood there puzzled, trying to readapt to the real world.

"Jess, wadja' see?" Nicole wondered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the MISSING characters. NONE of them are of my belonging

"Umm … a crown, being dropped, it turns into blood. Oh and three women who look scared to death, two of them, happen to be in front of us", Jess announces to the rest of them as she points to the pictures of the two women.

"Sandra and Emily?" Nicole confirms.

Jess nods her head affirmative. "Then Emily fades away and Sandra runs." Jess finishes still quite puzzled.

"Cortez, I want further background info on Sandra and Emily, and you", he points to Nicole and Jess, "go with him and see if anything connects to your vision." They left Pollock and started to get to work. Antonio sat in front of his computer and started typing faster than the speed of light. Nicole and Jess just sat there watching and thinking. After a few short minutes, Antonio, being as clever as he is, was able to find all the basic information about the two missing women.

"Okay, we have something. Emily Diller 21, from Virginia," Antonio started

"Antonio, we don't have time to waste, is there any _relevant_ information?" asked Nicole quite aggressively.

Antonio stares at Nicole for a second and keeps going. "She had just been crowned Miss Virginia and is a contestant the Miss America pageant next week."

"But what does this have to do with Sandra?" asked Jess being a little more sincere than Nicole had been.

"Well Sandra Manice is the reason Emily won the title of Miss Virginia. She was the judge that made the final decision. The other two were debating between Emily and the first runner up Maggie Glorio.", Antonio concluded.

"That must be their connection. Where was she reported missing from?" asked Jess.

"The La Chance Hotel. The forensics team is on its way over there. The girl's friend Beth should be there since she was the one to report Emily missing" said Antonio.

"Let's head over there, see what this Beth has to say", Nicole suggested to Jess. And with that they were on their way.

Soon Nicole and Jess were walking towards room 258 of The La Chance Hotel. Outside the hotel room, to which the door was wide open, young woman was pacing and looking very worried. Nicole approached her with Jess not too far behind. Jess peaked into the room; the forensics team had already arrived and they were inspecting every inch of the room.

"Agents Scott and Mastriani, FBI", Nicole announced to the young woman who seemed to be in her early twenties. "You must be Beth; you're Emily's friend, correct." Jess observed Beth. She was a young skinny woman, with long brown hair in a braid. Her appearance seemed much neglected. Beth looked tired, very pale with bags under her eyes, and worried very worried.

"Follow us, let's talk", Nicole said as she led Beth into the hotel room. In the hotel room, which didn't happen to be very large, there sat two twin beds on opposite sides of the room, a large dresser with a mirror, a small desk, two night stands and a door leading to the bathroom. Nicole motioned Beth to sit on one of the beds.

"Beth, when did you get to the hotel room?" Jess asked her trying to still be somewhat comforting.

"Yesterday evening at around seven or eight. Emily wanted me to stay with her in the hotel for a night because she isn't allowed leave the hotel for the next two days, in order to stay in the pageant."

"And when did you last see her?" wondered Nicole.

"Well yesterday when I got here. I met her in the main entrance, she showed me the room, she said she had to rehearse with some of the other girls in the main hall and would be back later but to make myself comfortable."

"And…" Jess added.

"Well, I got kind of tired so I thought I'd lie down for a while in bed and wait. I found myself asleep after awhile. And when I woke up she wasn't there either. I figured that she had probably had to prepare for the pageant. I found her schedule on the desk next to the fruit basket and it said that she should be in the main hall practicing the group dance. I went downstairs hoping I could watch from the corner or something but she wasn't there." Beth paused for a couple of seconds. "I asked around no one had seen here, everyone said she didn't come in. I searched the hotel from top to bottom. Once I noticed all her stuff was here, her bag with money and cell phone, her shoes, her jacket and all her clothes, I knew that, I felt that, she was gone." Beth started shedding tears.

"Thank you for your help, we'll try our best to find her." Jess comforted Beth. They stepped away from the young woman as she walked out.

"I don't know, this seems whack", Nicole started, "I mean how do we know she didn't walk out of the hotel on her own and just never came back, you know how these pageants are, one big stressful beauty contest."

"It doesn't really feel like it Nicole, this seems way too, fishy, weird, I don't know. It just doesn't feel right." answered Jess.

One of the men on the forensics team signaled Nicole to come over. "Agent Scott, I believe we found something that may be of some help." he said. He passed Nicole a little note. Nicole put on a pair of gloves before touching the note. "We found this in the drawer of the nightstand" he finished. The note read:

**Hey Hunny,**

**Meet me late tonight at "the big house" down the street from Spade Park. I have _something_ for you. Trust me it would be better if you meet there rather than I find you and_ pick you up_. I'll be waiting.**

"See, she probably just left, told ya", Nicole responded suggestively. Nicole was going to put her hand on Jess's shoulder for reassurance. But as Nicole's hand touched Jess's shoulder she was hurled into a vision…

_It was dark. Emily appeared. She walked toward Jess. She starts speaking to Jess. "I don't want to see him. Don't let him take me. I don't deserve this. Please! I don't even know WHERE the house is. WHERE is the house? I don't know WHERE it is. WHERE is the house?" Blood spilled all over the black surroundings. The words echoed all around Jess WHERE, WHERE, WHERE?_

"Jess?" Nicole tried to bring Jess back to reality.

"It's not her fault", was the only thing Jess could manage to say.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the MISSING characters. NONE of them are of my belonging

"Jess? What was that all about?" Nicole asked looking concerned.

"Emily didn't walk out on her own. She was in my vision and she was scared. She umm… she talked about some guy she didn't want go with him and there was blood I think she's in trouble." answered Jess still bewildered.

"Wow, that's rough. If that's what your vision says I believe it. Let's let forensics to their thing and we'll meet Antonio to do ours," Nicole kindly suggested.

The two overworked women arrived at the office where the rushed towards Antonio seeking an advance in the case.

"Okay, forensics notified me that there was sign of struggle, but do we have any other leads?" Antonio asked them

"I had a vision," Jess notified him.

"What facts does it provide us with?" he questioned.

"Well not much other than support for a kidnapping, but there was one strange thing about it" she said and then paused for a second trying to remember what was going on. "She kept saying the word 'where' in the vision with great emphasis," she continued.

"But that doesn't do us any good, is there anything else?" Antonio asked.

"Well there's that note we found in her room, Antonio can you check parks that are near the La Chance Hotel?" Nicole responded, her mind fully on this case and nothing else.

Antonio did a quick search and found results in no time. "There are three", he replied. "There's Floral National Park, Spade Park and--"

"--That's the one. We need searches on buildings in the area," Nicole so rudely interrupted. Antonio felt there was something wrong with Nicole lately but decided he'd discuss it with her later and he did what he was told.

"It's not such a busy area there is a mini-market, a candle shop, a small antique store, and an old deserted warehouse down the block but it's closed down." Antonio informed them.

"Warehouse, that must refer to the 'where' in my vision" responded Jess.

"Let's go" Nicole said.

They soon got to the old warehouse a block away from Spade Park. They were able to break down the door with ease. Inside the warehouse it was dark, dusty and stuffy. They could barely breathe but they went in anyway, after all it was their job.

"Okay, Jess we'll look on the second floor while Antonio searches down here," Nicole announced to the group in authority.

"Just replace Pollock, why don't you?" Antonio mumbled under his breath. He had had enough of Nicole's attitude.

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Nicole responded defensively.

"Umm… uh…. Nothing, I-I'll go this way," Antonio finished and walked away into a dark hallway. Jess stared at the two puzzled.

Jess and Nicole went up the stairs looking for any trace of Emily. Once they reached the top of the stairs Nicole and Jess went their separate ways. Nicole went left while Jess went right. No one could find anything but deep down Jess knew this was the place and something was wrong. Soon after good several minutes of searching on the second floor Jess reached a hallway with a balcony; she grabbed the edge and looked down. She wasn't at all ready for what she just saw.

"Guys, come here! And Quick!" Jess screamed almost at the top of her lungs. The rest of the team just stopped and rushed toward her direction. Nicole and Antonio saw Jess frozen from afar but they didn't know why. Not until they looked the looked down for themselves. There she was, Emily Diller, on the floor, bleeding, dead!


	4. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the MISSING characters. NONE of them are of my belonging._**

**Chapter 4­­**

Soon the three of them were back at the Bureau waiting in Pollock's office as instructed. They barely said a word to each other, for they didn't exactly know what to say after what they had just experienced. Finally Pollock walked in to his office, where they were all waiting, and practically slammed the door shut behind him. The agents could tell that he wasn't too happy. He sat down in his chair staring at them and waiting. Antonio decided to break the silence.

"So far we know that Emily is indeed dead. Apparently she was pushed off the balcony and hit her head. We have signs of cranial damage and excessive bleeding to the point of death. The rest of her body wasn't in good condition either."

"When was this?" Pollock questioned. Nobody wanted to mess with him at this point; you could tell he didn't have patience.

"Well, from what we got at the hotel she was taken from right in front of her room between 1 and 3 a.m. but she wasn't killed until about two hours before we got there. We found bruises all over her body so we can assume that the kidnapper abused her repeatedly before he pushed her off the balcony." Antonio finished.

"Never assume Agent Cortez," Pollock looked at Antonio and then moved on to Nicole and Jess, "and where were you two at the time?"

Nicole stepped up to answer "We were interviewing the friend, who reported Emily missing, sir."

"And what did you get from her?" Pollock asked still trying to stay calm.

"Nothing but a statement, but in the room we found a note Emily received, it seemed threatening, and then Jess had a vision." Nicole responded

"Ah, now those are they key words, 'Jess had a vision'" Pollock continued "Mastriani, share with us what we got out of this extrasensory message."

Jess could tell that Pollock was very bothered at the moment and with any wrong move he could lose his temper. She decided to respond to Pollock in the most cautious manner, "Well sir, Emily was in my vision and she said that she didn't want do go with '**him**' and she didn't know '**where**' the house is, probably referring to the warehouse in which we found her. And there was blood"

"Great, perfect in fact," at that very moment each and every one of them knew that Pollock had just snapped. "This team," he continued, "has been considered one of the best by many." He paused, "with an excellent solve rate, and a psychic, **A PSYCHIC**, on our team—"

"—but sir," Nicole cut in, not to be rude but to defend her best friend, Jess.

"I do not, like to be interrupted, Agent Scott," and he kept going "It was our responsibility, our job to find this young woman, and we have six, not five, six senses on our side and still this young woman is dead," everyone had thought Pollock was finished but he kept coming down hard on Jess. "Mastriani, you're here because of your visions, that is it, and what use are they, if you and Agent Scott over there are ignoring them and playing tea party with the missing woman's best friend!" Everyone knew that Pollock had gone too far.

Jess couldn't stand it. Over the past couple of years she had been extremely strong in one situation after another, but that was too much. She had gained such a respect for Pollock and what he had just said emotionally damaged her. Although it may have not been "the right thing to do", Jess stormed out of the office despite the consequences, even if one of those consequences was her dismissal from the Bureau.

**_A/N - I know this chapter was really short but i wanted to stress the importance of what just happened. Please Review! It's the holiday's andI would really appreciate reviews! It only takes about a minute. Thanks and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the MISSING characters. NONE of them are of my belonging_.**

**Chapter 5**

Nicole stood there for a moment looking at Pollock in awe. She could not believe what just went on. "Sir…" Nicole questioned Pollock hoping for an explanation.

"Get out" was the only thing he said as he calmly dismissed both Nicole and Antonio. The two left his office.

"Listen Nic, we need to talk", Antonio told her once they walked out in hopes of confronting her about how she's been acting lately.

"Not right now, Antonio, I gotta talk Jess," Nicole answered him right before she went to catch up to Jess.

Nicole found Jess at her desk fidgeting with some of the things on her desk and trying to stay calm. "Hey Jess, what's going on?"

Jess caught hold of a pen on her desk and kept fiddling with it. Jess wouldn't answer she just stared down at her fingers and continued playing with the pen, passing it from finger to finger, faster and faster until it drove Nicole completely insane. Nicole clapped Jess's hand along with the pen onto the desk. "Jess talk to me," she requested.

"What? What is there to say, Nic? You saw what happened," Jess replied still disturbed.

"Pollock? Come on Jess, don't take him personally. He's been going through some tough times; it's hard for him to stay in control," Nicole reassured her.

"I dunno what to say, Nic. I've been here for two years, and it feels like home, you guys feel like family. But now I'm just **_some psychic_**," Jess continued.

"Jessica Mastriani?" Nicole said with disbelief in what she had just heard Jess say. It had felt weird to say Jess's full name since she rarely calls her by anything other than 'Jess'. Jess was also surprised by how Nicole sounded. "Jess, don't talk like that, you're not just **_some psychic_** you are my best friend, and you guys are the closest family I've ever had. I'm not going to let anyone, especially Pollock, break the best thing that ever happened to me."

"I mean did you hear Pollock?" asked Jess.

"Listen Jess this is just about normal for Pollock…" answered Nicole.

"No it's not, for the past few weeks, day after day, he has been coming down hard on me and that was the last straw. You saw the look he gave me, what was I supposed to do?" Jess kept going.

"Okay, so you walked out, you did what you had to, that's cool," Nicole tried to reassure her.

"Even if I could get fired?" asked Jess.

"Jess, you won't get fired, our team needs you and Pollock knows it," Nicole continued. "Let's get your mind off this and put this case to rest."

Antonio approached them before they could get anywhere. "Hey, I got something for you. The bruises on Emily, some of them are fresh, from right before she died but there were some on her that seem as if they're been there for quite a while." He informed them.

"Okay, so how could we build on that?" wondered Jess. "I mean it's not like we can ask her."

"Well, if she knew something about it maybe her friend did too. Let's get that Beth girl over here," said Nicole.

After not too long Beth was at the bureau in an interrogation room with Jess while Nicole was watching from the outside.

"Okay, listen Beth we're investigating this case so we can prevent anyone else from getting hurt but we need your help." Jess notified her. She could tell how shaky Beth was.

"I-I'll do anything to help. She-she didn't deserve this. She was fun, bright, energetic, she was gonna be Miss America, you know," said Beth about to burst in to tears for she had already been informed that Emily was not alive. Jess put her hand on Beth's shoulder hoping to comfort her. Nicole was watching Jess through the glass, she knew that Jess was in a fragile situation at the moment and she was afraid that Jess would break during the case. Nicole wanted to burst into the room and take over but she refrained herself from doing so. She trusted Jess and she wanted to make sure Jess knew that.

"We found bruises all over Emily. Beth, do you know where they came from?" Jess asked her. Beth stayed silent for a moment. "Beth anything you know can help us."

"Well… her boyfriend's name is Max, Max Densler. He was nice guy but he was a bit… violent… at times," Beth confessed.

"And he did this to her?" Beth nodded and Jess continued. "Why did anyone go to the police?"

"She loved him. She may have been threatened by him at times and he did get tempered but she said she truly did love him. She begged me not tell, she said she could handle it." Beth admitted.

"Beth, what makes Max 'tempered'?" Jess asked.

"Well at first it was only every once in a while but, but lately if she didn't see him once in every couple of days, hey gets angry. He writes her and calls her continuously; he tracks her down until he finds her." Beth finished. Jess was shocked, not that she hadn't seen this situation before but she couldn't handle it at the moment. She knew that she had to keep going so she took a deep breath and finished up.

"Okay Beth, we're done for now, we'll let you know if we need anymore of your help." Jess concluded. Jess heard the buzz; she opened the door and released Beth while she went over to Nicole.

"Okay, so the boyfriend hasn't seen Emily in almost a week because of the work she's putting in for the pageant. He tracks her down and writes her a note to meet him at the 'big house'. She decides to ignore it and then he comes after her, takes her to his temporary base of operations, the warehouse. He gets her on the second floor balcony, repeatedly abuses her until he loses control and pushes her off?" Nicole suggests.

"There's only one way to find out…" Jess implied.

"Yeah, we get Max's lousy ass in here… and now." Nicole responded.

**_A/N - I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. And I'd to thank you people for the reviews so far. Please keep up the reviews, it doesnt take too long, the more i get the faster i'll update. I really wanna know how I'm doing._**


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